The present disclosure relates to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the use of a touch panel by a healthy subject or a patient for providing input during magnetic resonance imaging, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The present disclosure also relates to use of a touch panel by a patient for providing input prior, during, and after therapeutic interventions that are guided and monitored by MRI.
Neuropsychological tests are behavioural tasks that are designed specifically to measure mental processes that are thought to be linked with one or more specific brain structures. In practice, neuropsychological tests probe various aspects of human cognition, ability, or skill, with the intent to detect abnormal brain function, and to distinguish abnormal from normal brain function. The behavioural abnormalities measured by neuropsychological tests may indicate neuropathologies such as a stroke, brain tumor, traumatic brain injury or Alzheimer's disease, and may assist clinicians to identify a treatment target and a treatment plan.
However, the relationship between task performance and neuropathology is complex, partly because the underlying brain activity is regionally distributed. This causes neuropsychological tests to be less specific than is desirable because impaired behavioral performance can occur due to damage accrued by one or more nodes in the network, or by their interconnections. One way to improve the specificity of neuropsychological tests involves simultaneous measurement of behaviour and brain activity, for example using fMRI. The fMRI method is widely recognized as a safe, non-invasive method to probe neuronal activity indirectly through the associated localized changes in blood oxygenation, flow, and volume.
Various devices for stimulus presentation and response recording are used as part of behavioural task design in fMRI. For example, a button box is commonly used to record finger press responses (e.g. “yes” or “no”) to behavioural tasks. U.S. Pat. No. 8,073,526, issued to Graham et al., discloses an MRI-compatible tablet for recording drawing and writing movements during fMRI of brain activity. The system includes a touch-sensitive tablet, an elevated mounting platform, a stylus, and a controller box, as well as the necessary cabling and software.
In addition, as MRI technology advances, the imaging modality has become increasingly used in interventional applications to treat patients with brain impairment during minimally- or non-invasive procedures in which MRI provides guidance and monitoring capabilities. These procedures are advantageous because they potentially enable use of a smaller surgical field than achievable in conventional neurosurgery, as well as enhanced targeting of the treatment volume and surrounding normal tissues. Enhanced outcomes are possible while minimizing side-effects, as well as more efficient surgical procedures that minimize procedure time, shorten hospital stays, and improve socio-economic factors such as health care costs, economic productivity through faster return to work, and improved quality of life. Examples of such MRI-guided interventions include neurosurgical resection of abnormal brain tissue, either manually or using specially-designed robotics; thermal therapies using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), laser, radiofrequency, microwave, or cryogenic devices to ablate focal regions of tissue through temperature elevation or reduction; localized drug administration, either using an inserted localized delivery device or by an injectable agent that is locally activated through focal activation using ultrasound and microbubbles; and implantation of electrodes in precisely targeted brain regions to modulate the excitability or inhibitory capacity of specific neuronal populations in abnormal neural networks.